What to know about a new Ebola outbreak

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2026

⏱️ 20 minutes

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Summary

The World Health Organization has declared an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda to be a global health emergency. We hear from Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious disease physician with experience in Ebola outbreak response. And, on Saturday, one prominent critic of President Trump, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, lost his primary, and on Tuesday, another Republican Trump critic, Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie, will see if he can survive Trump's wrath in what's being called the most expensive primary race in the country. ABC News Washington bureau chief Rick Klein talks about expectations for primaries in six states tomorrow, and the prospects for Republicans who criticize President Trump and want to win re-election.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:06.9	It's a very difficult disease to detach diagnostics we typically use to detect Ebola, did not pick up this particular species.
0:16.9	The World Health Organization declares a public health emergency of international concern over Ebola in Africa.
0:33.4	It's Monday, May 18th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WVR. I'm Chris Bentley.
0:42.8	Today on the show, primary voters gave the boot to one of the few Republican senators who voted to impeach President Trump.
0:50.4	Now spending in another race to unseat a Republican critical of Trump has set records.
0:56.4	Congress Massy has often voted more on the libertarian side.
0:59.2	But I think the way that he went directly at Donald Trump and his Justice Department of his handling of Epstein is what got him more national prominence than what put a target on his back.
1:07.6	But first, there's a concerning outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo and
1:14.3	Uganda.
1:16.0	The WHO is calling it a public health emergency of international concern.
1:21.5	Bundy Bujo is a rare species of the Ebola virus with no approved vaccine.
1:27.7	Dr. Krutika Kupali is an infectious disease physician with experience in Ebola response.
1:33.8	She told Indira Lakshmanan. The outbreak is indeed concerning.
1:38.9	So we know that the first case is reported at the end of last week. And as of today, there have been reports of over
1:45.5	300 suspected cases and 88 deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And Uganda has also reported
1:52.2	two confirmed cases and one death. So given that we've seen so many cases reported in such a
1:59.0	short period of time, I'm wondering if that means this is an
2:02.3	especially contagious strain or species?
2:08.5	So it's an all likelihood been going on for a while.
2:12.2	When WHO released information last week, the first identified case they knew of within the end of April, but this is likely been
2:20.2	going on longer than that.
	...

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